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July 1994
The Satya Interview: Vegetarian Candidate Ken Baer

 


Ken Baer is a vegetarian and environmental activist. He is also running for the State Assembly in the 52nd Assembly District, which comprises Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Bay Ridge, and a few blocks in Park Slope. The current assemblyperson, Eileen Dugan, has been in office for fourteen years.

Q. What are your environmental ideas?
A. I’m very concerned about solid waste. First of all, it’s imperative we eliminate incineration as a legal option for disposing of garbage. Second of all, and maybe more importantly, we should reduce the amount of solid waste which needs disposing. That means passing the Environmentally Sound Packaging Act, which would mandate that packaging be reusable or recyclable.

We need to rethink everything we do and how we package things. People are in the habit of using plastic forks and containers and going to take-out places and taking plastic plates and glasses. There’s a whole set of bad habits that all need to change and if that means taxing and prohibiting then we need to do it. The fate of the Earth is in the balance.

Q. What incentives would you use?
A. I think most companies could use ceramic plates and metal cutlery. I would choose or sponsor legislation that would give the full cost of these items as a tax credit against taxes against due the state.

Q. What about the issues of incineration and landfills?
A. I’m against incineration, but the people of Staten Island have been dumped on long enough and I would like the City and State of New York to have reached a position where we don’t need a landfill. That sounds very pie-in-the-sky, very idealistic. But that’s what we need to aim for. It’s not fair to the people of Staten Island; it’s not fair to those folks out of State who are willing to take it and landfill our garbage for a price. It shouldn’t be put in anyone’s backyard. We should think of the Earth as a whole. One piece of it is no less precious than another.

Q. What about the Gowanus Canal and its pollution?
A. I know there are discussions now about oxygenating the water and creating a flow through the Gowanus that isn’t currently occuring. The Gowanus is stagnant water. I think oxygenation will improve the aroma in the area. Any industries or commerce and tourist attractions that can be developed in the area would be fabulous. People don’t expect much to happen in the area, so whatever can be developed is great.

Q. What about the City’s recent decision to scale back on the number of times it will be collecting recyclable material?
A. As much as I would like to see recycling be as frequent as possible, the focus should be on the amount of recycled material collected. That is the most important thing: the proportion of what is being recycled. Many of us used to trip over to Atlantic Avenue to recycle; when we eventually got mobile units we were very happy. So, when we had curbside pick-up it was like a luxury, and people need to get used to a different frequency. I know in larger buildings with smaller apartments it’s a little more difficult to accumulate recyclables for longer periods of time. Larger buildings may have to be done more frequently, and taken care of as special circumstances. Collections of regular garbage could be reduced in number to save money.

Q. When did you become a vegetarian?
A. I became a vegetarian in 1972. It related a lot to the Vietnam War and the killing going on over there. It got me thinking about animals and how I related to them and how they met their end because I wanted to feed myself on them. I tried to become a vegetarian in early 1971 and I wasn’t successful; eventually I lived with people who knew a lot about healthy foods and the next time I tried it I was. I’m a lacto-ovo-vegetarian; although I don’t eat that much dairy. I’d like to see animals treated more humanely, and I am very much opposed to the injecting of hormones into dairy herds.

Q. Do you feel that milk created using rBGH [artificial Bovine Growth Hormone] should be labeled?
A. Most definitely.

Q. I’d like to press you more on your linking of the Vietnam War with your vegetarianism.
A. Well; with all war, there’s death. And no-one likes to think they’re responsible for another entity’s demise. Being so acutely aware of what was going on in Vietnam, and the role of our government - to the degree I didn’t want to participate in the War - made me reflect on my eating habits and how I related to animals at large. And it was for those reasons I became a vegetarian.

Q. Was vegetarianism instrumental in your political consciousness?
A. No. I don’t proselytize or make a big deal of my vegetarianism. It’s just another facet of me, and it just so happens that I am a politician and I am a vegetarian. I am, however, a person of conviction. My concern for all living things and the environment has led me to organize people. My convictions make me to want to take action. I have found in my campaign that vegetarians have been working hard for me, and environmentalists are beginning to come on board.

My vegetarianism mainly centers on the quality of food that’s available on the market. I try to eat as many organic fruits and vegetables as possible. There is a good reason for that: I don’t like to see the food I eat contaminated with chemicals and fertilizers. I don’t think it’s beneficial to the Earth, and I don’t want to consume those things. So, I come from that perspective personally and I think that translates to something I am interested in politically: how healthy the food supply is. Another facet of this is the water supply: and the potential for it to be contaminated - or to the extent to which it is contaminated already - by virtue of industrial pollution, agricultural pollution etc. As a society and a world we need to protect our water supply. Without a safe water supply, the human race will die.

Q. Do you think there are justifiable political and human health reasons to give special breaks to businesses that are promoting healthy food and cutting down on waste?
A. I think that consideration should be given in terms of tax benefits to businesses that are involved with improving their environmental habit and I think it makes good policy sense in terms of redirecting where society’s going. It’ll benefit those businesses and they need to be rewarded for being socially responsible.

Q. What about businesses that are not being socially responsible? Should we penalize them or tax them?
A. I think that may be a halfway step towards alleviating the problems. But I think broader approaches should be taken for those businesses that operate in an environmentally sound way. It’s not just taxing fertilizers or chemicals used on food - it is banning them, and finding justifiable scientific evidence to do it.

Q. I realize it’s out of your immediate jurisdiction, but I’d like your opnion on the carriage horse situation. Two have died in one month of unknown causes, both on Manhattan streets. That they’re there at all is because of the law passed by the City Council earlier this year allowing drivers to take horses into mid-town away from the Park during the day and into the night. Should this law be repealed?
A. The horses need to be treated humanely, and that when there are conditions the horses find difficult, they should be accommodated. The horses need to enjoy their lives. I realize people are getting a livelihood from these horses, but the horses need to be treated well. I would repeal the law.

Q. There is shortly going to be a bill sponsored by Councilmember Freed mandating the spaying or neutering of companion cats and dogs in order to cut down on the thousands stray cats and dogs overpopulating our streets. What is your position on that?
A. I support the Spay/Neuter Bill. I know Kathryn Freed very well; any bill she has proposed has been given a lot of thought and study and I’m sure it’s a bill that should be enacted.

Q. Do you feel vegetarianism should be actively promoted in schools?
A. I think we should learn about general benefits and detractions of all foods. Kids should be learning it’s not good to take in a high fat content and by virtue of that you’re promoting vegetarianism. It’s a less ideologically-based argument.

Q. Why remove vegetarianism from ideology?
A. I think there’s worth in vegetarianism strictly from an objective point of view, in its health benefits. There are lots of people who don’t want to feel imposed upon by virtue of someone else’s philosophy. But if you can present an idea with a different slant, it will be more appealing than simply proselytizing or trying to impose your philosophy on other people. I think just presenting people with the facts will enable them to make their own decisions. And that’s the main reason why Americans’ eating habits have changed over the last twenty, twenty-five years.

Q. I think a lot of vegetarians feel there is still so much hostility to their ideas.
A. I don’t think so. People do evolve, and I don’t think we’re that way anymore. The more people learn the wiser the decisions they will make. People should be discouraged from eating meat, not for philosophical reasons but from what happens to the earth when trees are felled. Tremendous amounts of energy and water go into the production of a pound of beef, and less so going into the same amount of grain and other vegetables.

Q. Perhaps there needs to be something more than discouragement.
A. I’m not so sure. If fish were not diminishing in numbers the way they are: if there were sufficient numbers and flourishing species and there were nothing environmentally unsound about eating fish, I would be reluctant to pass any legislation that would prohibit people from eating fish. It seems to me that is a personal issue. We do, however, need to put the environment before all else. Protecting the Earth and the resources located in the earth. The water, the land, the air: we all need these things to exist.

 


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